Heat reflecting hood



y 1953 L. w. ATCHISON ,7

HEAT REFLECTING noon Filed Nov. 9, 1951 Inventor Leonard WAtchisOn,

His Attor- -e Patented July 7, 1953 HEAT REFLECTING 11001); i .5LeonardW. AtchisdmErie, Pa., assignor to Gen eral Electric York'Applicatin N rmta 9, 1951, Serial No. 255,659 I r.

' 3'" Claims. (01. 312-237) My invention relates to refrigerated displaycases and, more particularly, to a refrigerated display case having anopen top such as is commonly used to display perishable food products.

Open top refrigerated cases are now q'uite'com monly used to displayvarious foods and other perishable products which require refrigeration.Cases of this type are frequently installed in food markets and the likebecause they permit an open display of the articles contained thereinand also provide convenient access for customers. Even so-called frozenfoods which must be maintained at a temperature considerably below thefreezing point are now displayed in this manner, it being possible tomaintain the necessary low temperatures in a refrigerated case havingneither a top wall more cover, However, certain dimculties areencountered in maintaining the desired low temperatures in open toprefrigerated display cases because of thetransfer of heat into therefrigerated space by radiation from heat sources outside the "cabinetand also by air currents circulating into the refrigerated space. R

Accordingly, it is an object of my inventionto provide means forpreventing .or substantially reducing the transfer of heat-by'radiation'and convection into the interior of an open top refrigerated displaycase.

It is another object of my invention to provide a heat reflecting hoodfor open top refrigerated display cases which minimizes the entrance ofheat rays into the interior of the case and also minimizes aircirculation within the interior of the case.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a heat reflecting hoodarranged to reflect through the open side of the hood those rays of heatwhich may enter through this open side.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty Whichcharacterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference is made to theaccompanying drawin in which the single figure is a sectional elevationview through a refrigerated display case including an embodiment of myinvention.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown therein a display case generallyrepresented by the reference character II], the plan of which ispreferably, although not necessarily, of rectangular form. The case IDhas a compartment II Company, a. corporation of New formed therein by aplurality of insulated'up;

right walls'IZ and an insulated bottom wall 3.

The compartment II is refrigerated by any su t-- able refrigeratingapparatus (not shown) .infa manner Well known in the art. v w in n Theheat reflecting hood generally designated by the character I4 isillustrated as being detachably secured to, the side walls I2 of therefrigere ated case It, by means of -suitablefastener elements. However,it is obviousthat the'hood 14 could be made an integral part of-therefrigerated case I0, and such a construction is Within the scope of myinvention. The heatreflecting hood comprises two spaced side walls, oneof which is shown at I5, having a sector-shapedv configuration, andanupwardly and forwardly inclined curved rear wall I6 extending from theupper edge of the rear wall of the casevloto a point directly above thefront'wall, when the hood is mounted on the case. The side edges ofcurved wall. I6. are joined to the curved edges of the side walls I5 toform aunitary'structure.

' A corrugated heat reflecting panel. Ilof polished aluminum or anyother suitable reflectingmater rial is attached to the interior surfaceof the curved rear wall I6, the. attaching means .(not' shown). beingpreferably, but not necessarily, rivets or screws. ,The corrugations ofthepanel. I1 extend longitudinally of the panel I! and of the rear walll6 of which the panel forms a part. The upper edge portion I8 and loweredge portion I9 of corrugated panel I! are folded over so as to providechannel sections which may be conveniently secured to the rear wall I 6.At the upper longitudinal edge of the hood I4 is a suitable tubularelectric lamp 20 appropriately mounted forilluminating the interior IIof the case ID.

As illustrated in the drawing, the rear wall is evenly curved, having aradius of curvature approximately equal to the distance from the frontto the rear wall of refrigerated case In, and the included angle betweenadjacent corrugations of the corrugated panel I1 is approximately It hasbeen found that this configuration of the corrugated panel insures thereflection of substantially all heat rays back out through the openinbetween the forward edges of the hood panel; the angles between adjacentcorrugations may be varied to meet particular conditions to secure amaximum of reflection of heat rays back through the opening at the frontof the cabinet. The manner in which heat rays are reflected by thecorrugated panel I1 is shown in the drawing, the path, of the heat raysbeing represented by broken lines with arrows to indicate direction oftravel. It will be seen that some of the rays are reflected only oncebefore leaving the hood while others pass through a double reflection,depending on the angle of incidence.

It is apparent that the heat reflecting hood l4 effectively prevents theentrance of heat rays intocompartment H of the case ID from the top andthree of the four sides of the case. Also, substanwall, and an uprightrear wall forming an opentop compartment, and a hood extending over saidcompartment, said hood comprising two sectorshaped side walls extendingupwardly from said compartment side walls and a curved wall extendingbetween the said sector-shaped side walls, said curved wall extendingfrom the upper edge of said rear wall and terminating along a linedirectly above and spaced from said front wall whereby access may be hadto the said compartment, the interior of said curved wall having acorrugated heat reflecting surface extending longitudinally tially allof the heat rays entering the open side of the hood I4 and striking thecorrugated panel I! are reflected out again and thus are neitherreflected into compartment ll nor absorbed by the rear wall I6.Furthermore, the end walls I5 and rear wall l6 of the hood prevent aircurrents from entering the compartment l I from both the ends and rearof the case I0.

From the above description, it will be seen that I have provided a hoodfor a refrigerated display case which not only substantially preventsradiant heat and air currents-from entering the display case from threesides and the top, but also substantially prevents radiant heat enteringthe 'open'side of the hood from being reflected downwardly into thefood-storage compartment of the case. These desirable objects areobtained without sacrificing any advantages of an open top display case,the contents of the storage compartment being both visible and easilyaccessible. through the open side of the hood and the open top of thecase.

While I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention, I do notdesire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown,and I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications withinthe spirit and scope of: my,

invention. What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A refrigerated display case comprising a bottom wall, two uprightside walls, an upright front thereof, said surface being constructed andarranged to reflect outwardly through the opening directly above saidfront wall heat rays entering said opening and impinging on saidsurface.

' 2. The structure of claim 1 in which the included angle betweenadjacent corrugations of the corrugated heat reflecting surface issubstantially degrees. I

3. A refrigerated display case comprising thermally insulated bottom,front, rear and side walls forming a cabinet enclosing a storagecompartment having a top opening, a hood structure including a curvedwall overhanging said opening and supported by a pair of side walls soas to provide an opening at the front of the hood, the radius ofcurvature of said curved wall being equal'to the distance between thefront and rear walls of the case, and a horizontally corrugated sheetsupported adjacent the under side of said curved wall, the includedangle between adjacent corrugations being substantially 90, said sheethaving a heat-reflecting surface and being constructed and arranged toreflect outwardly through said front opening heat rays entering saidopening and impinging on said surface.

LEONARD W. ATCHISON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES'PATENTS

